Hanging By A Moment
by xChocolata
Summary: Katara is having a hard time accepting their former enemy joining the group, but does she really hate him as much as she thinks she does? takes place right after The Boiling Rock part 2. Zutara.
1. Chapter 1

**Hanging by a moment**

this story takes place after 'the boiling rock part 2' episode.

_desperate for changing_

_starving for truth_

Katara opened her eyes. She looked out of the tiny opening in the wall of her room, it was dawn. 'damn it.' The past few days she hasn't slept like she used to, and she knew just what the reason was. She went back in her bed and closed her eyes, not that she would ever be able to fall back asleep, but it was better than spending her morning with their new group member. Ever since he joined their group she kept worrying about her friend's safety, and she wasn't able to sleep well. Just like she had expected, Zuko joining their group brought nothing more than trouble.

After a while she decided to get up after all. She walked trough the long hallways of the Western Air Temple they had been hiding the past few weeks. After she got dressed, she went to the common area. She wasn't surprised at all to see Zuko there, but didn't bother to ask him why he always got up so early. She really didn't care. Even though everyone in the group seemed to trust him, she just couldn't allow herself to take that risk again. She thought of the conversation she had with zuko when they were trapped under Ba Sing Se. She did trust him there, she even offered to heal his scar for him, but he just.. She could feel the rage inside of her boiling up again. Zuko didn't choose to fight on her side that day, he just turned their back to her and her friends. No wait, he shot fire at her and her friends. She had promised herself not to be so trustful towards anyone again. After all, at times of war you can't trust anyone. She didn't bother to greet the firebender when she walked past him.

Zuko heard footsteps behind him and turned his head. Expecting an enemy, he sighed in relief when he found out the footsteps belonged to Katara. He heard her walk past him. For a moment he thought she would greet him, or at least notice him, but she walked by without even paying attention to him. He felt his stomach ache of disappointment. Ever since he joined the group Katara wouldn't even look at him, and the only time she had talked to him was when she threatened to kill him if he touched Aang.

Yeah, they really hit if off..

_desperate for changing_

He watched Katara while she was making breakfast for the group. Zuko always heard the group members complain that she was always mothering them and worrying about everyone besides herself. He never could imagine why they felt that way, but seeing her cooking he now had an idea of what they meant. He was snapped out of his thoughts when he suddenly heard his name. He looked up only to find Katara staring at him. 'Zuko?' she waved her hands in front of the firebenders face. He looked at her in disbelief, he wasn't really used to her speaking to him. 'I need you to make a fire for me.' her voice was cold and the expression on her face didn't seemed that friendly either. Oh, what he would do to make her trust him.

Katara watched as the boy slowly stood up and walked towards their cooking place. He attempted to make a fire in his handpalm. She really couldn't get used to the fact that he'd be here every morning from now on, that he slept in the same camp as they did, that he was teaching Aang how to firebend. She just couldn't understand why he decided to join the enemy all of sudden, after he had betrayed them only a few weeks ago. Till now on she had refused to ask him, but she couldn't handle her curiosity any longer 'You know, Zuko..' she began speaking 'Why did..' She wasn't able to finished her sentence. Aang came storming through the door and greeted the two happily. At least someone had slept well, katara thought with a smile on her face.

_Starving for truth_

After breakfast Zuko and Aang started their firebending training. But their training was rudely interrupted by a fleet of fire nation ships firing bombs at them. Katara heard a familiar voice as she ran up to Aang. It was Azula. 'Great, as if one crazy fire nation royalty interfering in our group wasn't enough' she said, a little bit louder than she had planned to. If only she had turned around, she could see the hurt on the face of their newest group member.

_**the end of chapter 1.**_

_First of all, thanks for reading, please leave a review of what you think about the story so far. Anyway this is my first fanfic about Avatar; The Last Airbender. to be honest, it's my first fanfic ever. I am a huge fan of the show and have been reading a lot of fanfics about it the past few days. So I thought, why not give it a try myself? This first chapter isn't that interesting at all, but the next one sure will be. At least I hope it will.. I guess I'll just try my best and see where it gets me. The story is, as some of you may have recognized by the title, inspired on a song by Lifehouse. The song is called 'Hanging by a moment.' I love that song. Furthermore I have to excuse myself for my english I guess, since it's not that great most of the time. If I make any huge mistakes please tell me, I really appreciate it :)_

_Avatar; The Last Airbender belongs to Nickelodeon  
Hanging by a moment by lifehouse_


	2. Chapter 2

**Hanging By A Moment**

Chapter Two

Zukos eyes widened as he saw a blue flash of lightning shoot through the sky. He couldn't believe that Azula had found them. How did she even know where they were hiding? He inhaled deeply and ran up to Azula while firing fire at her. 'Oh Zuzu, you don't really think you and your pathetic little friends can win, do you?' he heard his sibling say. 'I could kill them all just by snapping my finger.' Yet again she fired lightning, this time aiming for Aang, who dodged the attack very easily. 'I'm going to search the rest and try to find a way to escape, okay?' The young airbender sounded quite scared. 'I'll stay with Katara then.' I tried to reassure him of her safety. He knew how worried and overprotective Aang was when it came to Katara, almost like he had an crush on her. He grinned at the thought of Aang and Katara together, they just didn't seem like a good couple to him.

Suddenly he felt something nearly hit his leg, he looked up and saw Katara bending sharp spears of ice his way. 'I don't know what you find so funny at a moment like this, but I definitely don't need someone to protect me. I'm not a little kid anymore.' Zuko sighed at the stubbornness of his teammate, but she was right. It really wasn't a time to laugh.

He noticed Azula preparing for another attack, this time aimed at Katara. He knew everything about his sisters fighting style and could predict what she was up to just by looking at her. At least all the years of getting his ass kicked by his sister were good for something. 'Katara watch out!' Zuko tried to scream but no sound came out of his mouth. Without thinking about it he ran towards Katara and smacked her to the ground. 'What are you doing, you stupid ..' She protested heavily and tried to get out of his grip, but Zuko rolled her to the side of the platform, protecting her head with his arm.

Katara felt herself rolling over the floor, one of Zukos arms was wrapped around her waist while the other one was behind her head. What does he think he is doing? She tried to get out of his arms, but all she accomplished by doing so was him tightening his grip. When they eventually stopped rolling Zuko let her go. 'What's wrong with you?' She shouted. 'Attacking me all of the sudden?' She felt the strong tendency to punch the boy in the face. 'Trying not to get you killed' the firebender replied calmly. She followed his gaze to the place they stood just a few seconds ago. 'Maybe if you stop focusing on killing me for one second, you could try and kill our real enemy.' Zuko said, this time he sounded more irritated. Katara felt her cheeks color, did he just save her life? Why would he.. She looked him in the eyes and said in a cold tone: 'To me, you're just as much of an enemy as Azula is.' Her words may have sounded a bit harsh, she had to admit, but she wasn't going to fall for his ''changing and becoming a good guy all of sudden'' attitude. She wasn't planning on getting betrayed again. She went off towards the temple to find Aang and the rest of their group, leaving a speechless Zuko behind.

Zuko opened his eyes, he felt dizzy. He tried to get up, but an unbearable pain struck his chest. He looked down to see what had happened to his body and saw that the most part of his chest was burned. He tried to remember what had happened, but he couldn't recall the attack. There was a knock on his door. 'Hm.. yeah?' he murmured. He was relieved when he saw Katara enter his room. She was holding a big bowl of water. 'What happened?' he asked her. She didn't respond. 'Katara?' He was now really starting to panic. He watched the waterbender walk up to him, her hands covered in water. He closed his eyes and waited for what would happen to him.

_**End of chapter 2.**_

_So I guess this is how the story continues. It's a bit weird, I know, but I will try to clear up what happened to Zuko in the next Chapter. Thanks for reading, it means a lot to me :) _

_xChocolata_


	3. Chapter 3

**Hanging By A Moment xChocolata**

**Chapter 3**

_Closer than where I started,  
__Chasing after you._

A knock on the door woke Zuko. He heard Toph's voice as the door slowly opened.

'How's it going in there, Sparky?' The Earthbender spoke. 'Hey Toph' Zuko said, 'I'm alright, thanks.' He looked up to the Eartbender who was now standing next to his bed. 'You know, I can feel that you're lying. Now tell me what's really bothering you so much Sparky' She looked down on him with a smile on her face, knowing he could not avoid her question now. Zuko thought. What was bothering him? He didn't even know himself. Had it something to do with Katara? Or was it just Azula he was concerned about?

'What happened to me yesterday?' He eventually asked. Toph raised an eyebrow, she tough Katara had already told him what had happened to him. 'Well, I your sister is really persistent, isn't she?' Toph said jokingly 'You have much more in common with her then you think.' 'I am not like my sister!' Zuko defensed himself. 'I have changed!'  
'I know, I know. Don't make such a fuss about it.' She grinned. Zuko really was easy to tease, she might even have more fun teasing Zuko than she had teasing Katara. 'But your sister attacked us yesterday..' She explained to him. 'You almost got yourself killed, actually.' She looked into the eyes of the Firebender as they grew wide of disbelief. 'But, but how could that happen?' Zuko stammered.

Katara pressed herself against the door, hoping she could hear more of the conversation that was held on the other side of it. She pressed her ear against the hard timber door. She never told Zuko what had happened to him, or how he was able to survive Azulas deadly attack. And she wasn't going to tell him either. Now Toph was in there and about to tell Zuko everything that happened the other day.  
She didn't want him to know. She couldn't trust him with that.  
Of course Zuko already knew Katara was a healer, she even offered to heal his scar when they were trapped under Ba Sing Se. But this was something completely different. She didn't want Zuko to know about her other special ability, it was the only secret weapon she could use, if he ever tried to betray their group again. It was one of the many things the firebender didn't know about her, and she was determined to keep it that way.

'Your heart wasn't beating anymore..' Toph slowly continued. She could sense Katara was listening at the other side of the door, but decided not to bother. 'My what ?!' Zuko was terrified. 'What do you mean 'not beating anymore'?' Well you got shot in the back by your sisters crazy lightning powers' Toph explained 'When we found you, you weren't breathing and your heart had stopped. We thought you were dead. We managed to bring you into the temple and Katara tried to heal you..' The voice of the earthbender didn't sounded as it used to be, she even sounded worried. 'But Katara wasn't able to heal you.' Toph looked to the ground and tickled her toes. Zuko was astonished. He had almost got himself killed by Azula. How could he ever let that happen? But on the other side, Katara did try to heal him, maybe she had finally accepted him to their group now.

There was one thing he just couldn't understand: 'If katara couldn't heal me, why am I still alive?' Toph began to speak again 'Nobody knows Sparky, we left you two alone to fight Azula. When we came back we found Katara exhausted and crying, and your heart was beating again.' Toph shrug her shoulders 'She wouldn't tell us what had happened.'

Katara sighed. Toph really knew how to make someone worry. She could imagine how Zuko must feel after hearing this strange story. She decided not to let him suffer any longer and opened the door. 'Toph, Aang needs you for his eartbending training.' She smiled at Toph. Toph stretched and walked out, leaving the two alone in the room. 'How is your chest doing?' Katara walked up to the wounded firebender and sat down next to him on the bed. She felt a bit sorry for him. Maybe she should tell him what had happened? Maybe she should tell him about her powers, but she was too afraid he would betray her again.

She was torn from her thoughts when Zuko mumbled a soft 'I'm fine' and tried to sat himself up next to her. 'Zuko you have to lie down, you are only hurting yourself now.' But he wouldn't listen. He let out a groan as he sat himself down next to her. He leaned a bit against her shoulder to keep his balance. Normally, Katara would freak out when he was even looking at her, but now she let him. After all, it was her fault that he almost died.

Zuko leaned against Katara and laid his head down onto her shoulder. Her hair tickled his cheek. He was glad she let him be so close to her, maybe she had forgiven him after all. He opened his mouth to ask her what had happened the previous day, but closed it again before speaking a word. Instead, he closed his eyes and enjoyed the quiet peace for a while. He opened his eyes when he felt water run over his forehead. He startled and looked at the waterbender, expecting to see an angry face, but he found the girl crying. She was crying.

'What's wrong?' Zuko asked and put his hand onto her shoulder. She slapped his hand away and turned her back to him. 'Katara?' Zuko frowned.

_Closer then where I started._

Katara felt Zukos head lying on her shoulder. She didn't really bother. He was too weak to even point his finger at her, let alone attack her. She enjoyed the quiet moment for a while. Because of the small distance between them, she could hear his heart beating. The regularly beating she had come quite familiar with since Azulas attack yesterday. She thought of what she had done. She knew it was for a good reason, and she had saved someones life by doing so, but still.. She felt like a monster whenever she had to perform that special form of bending. Her eyes started to sting, and a few seconds later she burst out in tears.

'Katara?' She heard her name. 'Katara?' This time the voice of the firebender next to her was filled with concern. 'Why are you crying?' She felt a hand rest on her shoulder. As a reflex she hit the hand away. She turned around to face Zuko and looked him in the eyes.

'Do you even realize what you put me through yesterday?' She tried to sound angry, but all her mouth let out was a squeaky sound. 'Do you know how you survived Azulas attack?' She looked at Zuko. He looked very confused. 'I don't know.' He spoke softly.

'Bloodbending.' Katara said to him as she raised her hand.

**The end of chapter 3**

_Finally , I finished chapter 3. There's not much action in this Chapter, just a lot of explaining, and even more questions^^. I am not sure if you understand, but Ill explain everything in the next chapter. Please review and tell me what you think :)_

_xChocolata_

_Avatar the last airbender belongs to Nickelodeon._


	4. Chapter 4

_I'm so sorry for the long wait, I was so busy with school and everything and then I got sick. Ugh my motivation to write just died a little bit. But I am back to writing again and I hope to finish 2 new Chapters this week, let's do this. Also thanks a lot for the comments, even critique is welcome. Someone noticed my timing is off, yeah sorry for that I haven't really payed much attention to that kind of details. But I will from now on, thanks !_

**Hanging By A Moment xChocolata**

Chapter 4

_I'm falling even more in love with you,_

_letting go of all I've held on too._

Appa groaned while Aang was feeding him the berries they had just found. Because of Zukos injuries he had to go hunting with Sokka. He hated it. It's a bit strange for a vegetarian to go hunting anyway. The airbender grinned just by the tought of it. Though his smile quickly changed when Sokka came strolling his way.

'Aang, we need to leave this temple. We can't stay here now Azula knows where we are.' Sokka sat himself down next to the bison and let out a sigh. 'It is just too dangerous.'

'I know Sokka,' Aang responded 'But Zuko is severelywounded, he can't travel the way he is now. We have to wait till he gets better.' The young airbenderheld a worried expression on his face. 'I know it's a risk. But we can't risk Zukos life either. He continued. 'Besides, Katara is working really hard to heal him, it will be allright.'

Sokka grinned at those last words 'I wouldn't be so sure of that, she looks like she is about to kill him every time she sees the guy. I wouldn't be surprised if we find him more injured than he was at first.' He looked up to the airbender who now held a shocked expression on his face. Sokka couldn't help but laugh at Aangs overprotective attitude. He knew he was the Avatar and everything, but there just are some thing that will never be at peace. For example, his sister. He knew just how worked up she could get over something not even worth discussing. He couldn't help but find a bit sorry for Zuko.

'Bloodbending?' He stummered the words out, his voice sounded like a little defenseless boy. And really, he felt that way. Katara could be really frightening, and the determined look she had on her face didn't give him any hope on surviving this conversation. When she raised her arm he completely lost it. She was going to kill him. To his surprise she started speaking, this time in an more soft tone. It was not until she came sitting next to him on the bed, he started to relax. 'Yes, Bloodbending.' He heard her say. She spit the word out in disgust. He wondered why it was this big of a deal to her, he wondered why she had helped him, and mostly why she hadn't killed him yet. There were so many thing about this girl he wanted to find out, but she wouldn't let him.

_I'm falling even more in love with you._

'Yes, bloodbending.' Katara looked at the injured boy in front of her. He looked really tense and uncomfortable all of the sudden, and she wondered if she might have scared him. The great firenation prince was scared of a water tribe peasant? Good.

'It's not really a common form of bending, and it only can be done by some waterbenders.' Katara had lowered her raised hand. She was going to bloodbend him to his feet, make him pay for what he had done to her. Again. But she couldn't. She didn't know if she was too weak to do it, or she just didn't have the heart to bring Zuko pain. Instead she came sitting on the bed next to him. After all, she owned him an explanation of what had happened to him the other day. If she wasn't going to tell him, Sokka was most likely to make up some crazy story and make everyone believe she was a crazy out of control bender or something. She wouldn't want that to happen.

'You bend the water in someones blood, so you are able to control them completely. A bloodbender can make someone do whatever they want them to, able to control them like a puppet master. It's a terrible form of bending and should be forbidden. It's not human worthy' She spoke softly. She felt like a monster, letting people lose their own will and controlling them forcefully. Zuko cleared his trothnext to her. She turned to face him and saw an even more confused look than he had had before her explanation. She gave him a weak smile, not sure if he could be trusted with this information.

'If it's that terrible, why did you learn it?' She heard him ask. Her smile faded and she felt a rage boiling in her. Like she had chosen to learn bloodbending. If it wasn't for her bloodbending, Zuko wouldn't have had a team Avatar to join. Hama would have killed Sokka and Aang, desperate to make her learn bloodbending. She had brought all of her friends in danger just for the sake of mastering waterbending. She thought Hama could teach her some techniques, she trusted her because she was from her own nation. Hama was one of her people, a atrong independent water tribe woman. Or at least that was what Katara thought she was. She couldn't possibly be more wrong. In the end she only learned how to make someone act as her will. Through bloodbending. A power she didn't ever want to have.

Guess not all of her people were good. She widenedher eyes to look at Zuko, hoping he wouldn't notice she was staring. Maybe if not all of the water tribe people were good, not all of the Firenation people were bad .. 'Katara?' She shot up from her thoughts.

Zuko raised an eyebrow at the waterbender next to him. She looked a bit conflicted with herself**, **making strange faces and completely lost in thoughts. He just sat and looked at the ground, waiting for her to find words to form an answer. 'Katara?' He grinned as the girl jumped up at her name and looked at him a bit startled. She really got lost in her thoughts a lot.

'How did you learn this bloodbending?' He knew it was no use to ask, she wasn't going to answer it. Why would she? She didn't even trust him in a fight. Why would she trust him with her past. He hadn't told her of his past either, so he didn't see a reason why she should. When she started speaking he was rather surprised. She spoke softly, almost as if she was going to burst out in tears once again. He reached out for her hand and grabbed it, trying to comfort her.

'I don't want to talk about it, okay.' She sneeredhis way. She leaned her head against the wall behind the bed she was sitting on, not letting go of his hand. For some reason, it felt right sitting next to Zuko. She felt as she was completely at balance. No matter how much she wanted to hate him and his people, she quickly found that her hatred fading away.

_Letting go of all I've held on to._

It wasn't fair to blame Zuko for her bloodbending, he couldn't help it. And after all, she had found the good in bloodbending thanks to him. She remembered how badly injured Zuko was, that day he got shot by Azula. His heart was too weak too beat by itself, so she had to use bloodbending. She tried to bend the blood in and out of his heart, and prevent him from loosing too much blood. She didn't reallt know how she managed, but she did. She had saved his life. Sure, she had sweared to never perform bloodbending again, but this time it wasn't that bad. It is not like she had controlled his blood against his will. Zuko certainly didn't want to die, did he? She sighed and squeezed the firebenders hand lightly. 'You know, Zuko..' she smiled a weak smile at him 'I am sorry, it's not your fault.' The look he then gave her made her heart flutter.

'Katara, are you planning on making dinner for us or what?' Sokke slammed the door open. Breaking the little moment of peace they had just shared. As always, he could only think of food. Katara, not in the least amused by her brothers manners, bended a splash of water in his face. 'You could maybe knock the next time you run into a room, geez Sokka.' her brother could really be annoying sometimes. She stood up from Zukos bed. Sokka had already stormed off to the common area. 'Stay here and rest, I'll bring you your food later' she commanded him. She expected him to speak up, saying he wouldn't let a peasant command him, but he didn't. He just nodded his head and laid back down.

As Katara entered the common erea she found that Suki ad already started preparing dinner. She walked over to her friend and offered her a helping hand. Katara noticed Suki was humming a song while she was stirring the pot on the fire. 'What are you signing?' Katara grinned. Suki looked rather surprised. Katara wondered if she had been aware she was singing out loud. Probably not. 'Oh, it's just a song me and the kyoshi warriors use to sing. It reminds me of home.' Suki answered her question. 'Oh' Katara crossed her arms behind her back. 'You must miss Kyoshi Island, don't you?' She knew how it felt like to be away from your home and your family for so long. After all, she had been travelling with the avatar for quite some time now. 'Well sometimes, but I love being here with you guys, and Sokka ofcourse. You are like a second family to me.' Suki gave her a genuine smile.

Katara was glad their group had become so close, and she was happy Suki had joined them. Katara liked having a girl her age in the group. Ofcourse there was Toph, but she was younger than her and wasn't really fond of long dramatic conversations. With Suki she could just let all of her feelings out, instead of focusing on battle plans and bending practices like she did with the boys. She smiled at how great her friends were.

Aang was walking his way around the airtemple. He was quite nervous. They really had to get moving, it was too dangerous here. Azula knew where they were and there was no doubt she would come back to catch them. He hoped Zuko would get better soon, so they could get him onto Appa and go find another place to hide from the firenation. When he had talked about it with Sokka, he just laughed it off a bit. No one really seemed to care about the comet anymore, they were all too busy hating Zuko or hanging around the temple. Aang sighed.

The hating Zuko part was what irritated him most. Katara was spending a lot of time with Zuko lately, and he had heard them talking last evening. He thought they had become friends, but this afternoon they were back to screaming at each other. He smiled, Katara was really stubborn. But he loved that part of her. He loved everything about her. He thought back to the day of the black sun, when he had kissed her. She had kissed him back, so she must feel something for him too, right ? Aang was all lost in thoughts when Sokka came storming at him screaming dinner was ready.

_I'm standing here until you make me move_

_Just hanging by a moment here with you._

**Thanks for reading and please review ! xChocolata**


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